By Arturo Castañares
Editor-at-Large

The most popular retired military ship in the US has been hiding its requirement to provide free public access to its deck for viewing the Bay for more than 20 years. 

The USS Midway, which welcomes more than a million visitors per year, is required under a state mandate to provide free access to the public to enjoy the views from the front of the aircraft carrier’s deck, but the group has made it nearly impossible for the public to know about the free access since it first opened in 2004.

A sign posted on Harbor Drive at the entrance to Pier 20 simply reads “Bay Access” with an arrow pointing toward the pier but does not specify the public access includes entry to the carrier’s flight desk. 

Another identical sign near the ticket booths also points toward the Bay, but does not provide any details that that visitors can gain access to the front of the ship free of charge.

A sign detailing that free public access is available is located past the ticket booths and within the area where only ticketed visitors can see it.

The first openly visible sign detailing the free access is nearly 200 feet past the ticket booth and only visible from the parking lot.

Anyone can ask for free public access at the ticket windows and will be escorted by a volunteer docent up an exterior metal staircase to the flight deck and restricted to only use the front of the ship without approaching any of the military aircraft on display. 

Handicapped access is available through an elevator. 

Although the free public access is not restricted in length of time, a docent stands in the area to monitor that those granted free access do not wander into the display areas open to paying visitors. 

Access to the entire carrier and its over 30 static airplanes and nearly 10 acres of exhibits and displays both inside and outside the ship is only available to paying visitors.

Regular daily ticket prices for access to the entire USS Midway range from $39 for adults, $29 for children 4-12 years of age, and $29 for military veterans. Active duty military members can enter for free. The ship is open to the public from 10am to 5pm, and special events are held after regular hours.

The USS Midway is owned by the nonprofit San Diego Aircraft Carrier Museum that received the retired aircraft carrier from the US Navy in 2001 and saved it from being sunk to create an artificial reef off the California coast. 

But although the group raised the money for the relocation, renovation, and operation of the ship, the group received an additional $8 million from the State of California to purchase Pier 20. 

The group also needed approval from the California Coastal Commission which administers all tidelands in the state held in public trust by the state’s Lands Commission. 

In order to counter environmental and access concerns voiced by local advocacy groups, the Coastal Commission required that the USS Midway allow free view access to the ship’s flight deck, in addition to the group purchasing and maintaining 14 acres of wildlife habitat in the South Bay to offset negative environmental impacts. 

As early as February 2005, some critics were already raising concerns about the museum’s lack of promotion of the free public access. 

"I'm not sure people are aware they can go to the ticket office and ask to board and go to the viewing area for free,” Diane Coombs, of the regional planning group C3, or Citizens Coordinate for Century Three, told the San Diego Union-Tribune in 2005. “They should have a sign letting people know.”

Last year, the Coastal Commission gave final approval for the development of Freedom Park on the pier to include nearly 10 acres of open space, a nature garden, memorials and monuments, play structures, seating and shading, interpretive signage, and parking. The park is currently under construction and expected to open in Spring 2025.

The concept for Freedom Park was included in the initial Coastal Commission approval for the USS Midway in 2001 but was delayed by the Port District and the Midway group for nearly 20 years over design issues and fundraising.   

Since its opening in June 2004, the USS Midway has become the most popular retired aircraft carrier in the country, surpassing the annual attendance at the USS Intrepid in New York City; the USS Lexington in Corpus Christi, TX; the USS Yorktown in Mount Pleasant, SC; and the USS Hornet in Oakland, CA. 

The USS Midway was built in 1944 but missed World War II by one week when it was launched on September 10, 1945. Named after the Battle of Midway in the Pacific, the carrier patrolled the Atlantic Ocean and European waters for 10 years before it was rebuilt in 1955 to include an angled desk to improve and increase its efficiency. 

In 1965, the USS Midway launched attacks on North Vietnamese targets with aircraft from carrier scoring the first air kill of the conflict, and later served as the floating base for helicopters evacuating more than 3,000 refugees during the April 1975 fall of Saigon. 

Its last deployment was in 1990 when the USS Midway served as the flagship for naval forces during Operation Desert Storm. The carrier launched more than 3,000 combat missions with no aircraft losses. 

The venerable ship was decommissioned in San Diego in 1992 and sent to mothball storage in Bremerton, Washington, until it was donated to the museum group in 2001. 

The USS Midway museum opened to the public in June 2004.